Toasters of various designs are presently available and include pop-up types, endless chain moving types, front door opening types, etc. In many instances, however, the toastable items have a tendency to jam while in the process of popping up and while moving along the endless conveyor, and the lock and release mechanisms required for the pop-up and open door types sometimes fail to properly function because of worn or unadjusted parts. Moreover, most toasters are ill-equipped for receiving toastable items having spreads on one or both sides without contaminating the heating resistance elements or other portions of the toaster.
Rotary toasters are likewise known as including a horizontal grid rotatable about a vertical axis between heating elements located on opposite sides of the grid. One of such devices is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,277,813, except that removal of the toasted items is normally done by manually lifting them off the grid after toasting. This is not only inconvenient but may present a safety hazard because of the close proximity of the heating elements to that portion of the grid which extends outwardly of the front opening of the toaster.